College Prepares Its Secretarial Students With A Test Of Loyalty

Vs. Ethics

U.S. executives learned long ago when they were in business school that they are the ones held accountable for their actions.

Today, with the question of ethics in the workplace a topic of concern, the role of secretaries and support staff in these matters also is under scrutiny.

There are some 4 million U.S. secretaries, more than 95 percent of whom are women. Secretaries also have to decide what their ethics are and to whom they are loyal: to themselves, their bosses, the company or the public? Are they robots or ethical individuals?

``Sometimes you have to go above the written law.`` To many, she was the epitome of the ``loyal`` secretary.

Ten years earlier in the Watergate hearings, Rose Mary Woods, secretary to President Richard Nixon, said under oath that she had ``accidentally``

erased 18 1/2 minutes of a critical tape of conversations in the Oval Office. She stuck to her story, though court-appointed experts said that the erasures could not have been done accidentally. Another loyal secretary.

Ethical dilemmas occur all the time in the workplace. And they are the topic of conversation at many schools and colleges.

``We found that our students and faculty were discussing ethics and just how far do you go because your employer tells you to,`` said Richard B. Turan, president of Briarcliffe, a junior business college in Hicksville, N.Y.

``We believe that in the cases of Ivan Boesky, Oliver North and Jim Bakker, the employers should be held responsible for what they did. But we also believe that the support person has to be held responsible. When you get down to ethics, they affect everyone on all levels.

``Yet, the whole issue of ethics is open to interpretation. We have to talk about whether we think the secretaries actually did anything wrong and whether the end justifies the means.``

To find out what people think, Turan, who has a master`s degree in psychology and whose background is in counseling and social services, surveyed his students to take their moral temperatures.

Briarcliffe has two other campuses in New York state and one in Miami. It has 650 students, is 80 percent female and specializes in secretarial science and business administration. Most of Briarcliffe`s students are preparing to be secretaries and Turan said they had to be challenged.

``We formed a committee to put together a survey that would deal not only with theory but also real-life situations,`` he said. ``Ethics are not something we`re born with and the law does not determine them. They have to be developed.``

More than 200 students were interviewed and they quickly discovered, Turan said, that ``few questions have yes or no answers. We tried to find out what they would really do.``

Among the questions and answers:

- Would you alter the minutes of the board of directors meeting because your boss told you to do it? The implication here is that you might be fired if you didn`t, and that the minutes are open to interpretation.

Seventeen percent of the students would alter the minutes without reservations; 34 percent said they would feel uncomfortable but they would do it; 40 percent would express their objections; and 9 percent said they would refuse to do it.

- You have discovered your company is discharging toxic chemicals into the water. You are told to keep it to yourself. What would you do?

Only 2 percent said they`d keep quiet without a protest; 2 percent said they`d do it but would be uncomfortable; 22 percent would express their objections; and, 74 percent would blow the whistle, even if they were fired.

- Your boss has told you to tell a creditor that the check is in the mail. It isn`t. What would you do?

Twenty-five percent would say it is in the mail; 52 percent would feel uncomfortable but would do it; 16 percent would express objections; 6 percent would refuse to do it.

- You`ve been asked to make personnel appointments for only white, male applicants. Would you cooperate?

Seven percent would; 11 percent would feel uncomfortable but would do it; 44 percent would object; and, 38 percent would not cooperate.

Turan says the discussion of moral values is so important that he has introduced at Briarcliffe a new three-credit course, ``Ethics and Issues.``